Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of Geron Co. (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the nine ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $5.06.

GERN has been the subject of several analyst reports. HC Wainwright reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Geron in a research note on Wednesday, March 12th. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $4.00 price target (down previously from $9.00) on shares of Geron in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Scotiabank cut Geron from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $4.00 to $1.50 in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $5.00 price target on shares of Geron in a research report on Wednesday, March 12th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on Geron from $8.00 to $4.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Geron

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. RA Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in Geron by 101.2% during the first quarter. RA Capital Management L.P. now owns 60,379,366 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock valued at $96,003,000 after acquiring an additional 30,369,830 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Geron by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 34,146,851 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $54,293,000 after acquiring an additional 608,029 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Geron by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 27,082,461 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $95,769,000 after acquiring an additional 4,516,615 shares during the last quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP grew its position in Geron by 100.0% during the 1st quarter. Vestal Point Capital LP now owns 22,005,340 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $34,988,000 after acquiring an additional 11,005,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Geron by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 13,510,114 shares of the biopharmaceutical company's stock worth $47,826,000 after buying an additional 847,710 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 73.71% of the company's stock.

Geron Price Performance

NASDAQ GERN traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $1.42. The stock had a trading volume of 529,455 shares, compared to its average volume of 11,728,643. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.74. The firm's 50 day moving average is $1.39 and its 200 day moving average is $2.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $901.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.42 and a beta of 0.76. Geron has a twelve month low of $1.17 and a twelve month high of $5.34.

Geron (NASDAQ:GERN - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The biopharmaceutical company reported ($0.03) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.01. The business had revenue of $39.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $49.88 million. Geron had a negative return on equity of 67.53% and a negative net margin of 682.48%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 12927.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.07) EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Geron will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Geron

Geron Corporation, a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapeutics for myeloid hematologic malignancies. It develops imetelstat, a telomerase inhibitor that is in Phase 3 clinical trials, which inhibits the uncontrolled proliferation of malignant stem and progenitor cells in myeloid hematologic malignancies for the treatment of low or intermediate-1 risk myelodysplastic syndromes and intermediate-2 or high-risk myelofibrosis.